On December 1 and 2, Supernova will be back in San Francisco with a really great assortment of discussions (agenda) and an extraordinary group of provacative speakers (speaker list). I will be moderating a panel focused on Fair Use issues issues that will include Zahavah Levine, Chief Counsel for YouTube, and Ashlie Beringer, a litigator at the law firm Gibson Dunn and Crutcher.

There are some obvious things about fair use in copyright that are worth discussion – especially with recent issues around the news/journalism/media industry (like Rupert Murdoch’s threats about content aggregation and search tools) and the on-going debates around copyright and user generated content. So, what issues relating to fair use are on your mind? What questions do you have for these panelists? What would you like to see covered by this discussion? I’d love to hear from you as we prepare for this discussion.

The opinion in the Warner Brothers Entertainment & JK Rowling v. RDR Books case just came down, and it’s an interesting outcome. The court found infringement of the reproduction right, but not the derivative works right. The court also found that the Lexicon created by a fan of the Harry Potter books was not sufficiently transformative to pass muster under the 4-part fair use test. The damages award was only $6,750. (It’s unclear to me whether attorneys fees are or will be sought.) I’m still working my way through 67-page opinion. The case was being defended through the Stanford Fair Use Project, and I suspect there will be an appeal filed…

I want to thank everyone who came to my workshop yesterday with Jeffrey Hermes New Media legal issues. We received some great questions from the audience and I was thrilled with the full-room turnout in the last presentation on a Friday afternoon (especially in Vegas!) As promised, I’m including my slides (.pdf) here. They are also available in my flickr photostream.

Alex is Public Knowledge’s Director of Policy and New Media. Before his position with PK, he interned for Senate Senator Mike DeWine — making DeWine the second U.S. Senator on the Internet by one day. He was asked to return in subsequent years and in addition to creating websites for both Senators DeWine and George Voinovich, he also worked on legislative issues. While in law school, Alex clerked for the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, working on issues such as Broadband, Digital Online Music, and Open Access.

Topic: In this episode, Colette interviews Alex Curtis, of Public Knowledge, a Washington-based advocacy group, about Orphan Works. Orphan Works is a problem in copyright law that Congress is trying to solve through newly proposed legislation. Alex provides us with some background on the problem, an overview of the different sides to the issue, and Public Knowledge’s position on the pending legislation. The discussion covers views that are both critical and in favor of the new legislation.

Credits: Ben Costa, Producer. Music for this episode is licensed from Magnatune. (Artist: Burnshee Thornside; Album: The Art Of Not Blending In; Song: Can I Be A Star.) Special thanks to Creative Commons and Alex Roberts for the logo design, and to Bill Streeter for getting this site designed and rolling for us.

Feedback: We would very much like to hear from you and get your feedback on this new podcast series. Things you like, don’t like, or questions you have that you’d like answered in a future episode are welcome. Please send us your feedback and questions by emailing us at colette [at] rulesfortherevolution [dot] com.

For Real Deal Episode 106 (), we discussed all sorts of issues relating to copyright and on-line media. In today’s CNET Live appearance (link coming soonhere) we focused on the 5 things I wish people understood better about copyright in the U.S. These are:

(1) that copyright protects expression, not ideas (that’s covered by patent law) and not slogans/short words (that’s the province of trademark law).
(2) that you can infringe a copyright even if you make no money !
(3) whether you intend to infringe has no bearing on liability, though it can effect a damages award against you.
(4) fair use has no bright lines (a caller had a question for us about the Harry Potter case being handled by CIS, so that proved a perfect segue to discussing fair use requirements).
(5) copyright is a great thing – it’s an engine of creativity and it’s important to the livelihood of artists and creators.

{UPDATE 5/5/08:} Here’s the CNET Live video:

It was great fun to discuss these issues with Tom, Brian and Rafe, and I hope readers/listeners of Rules for the Revolution check out those episodes too.

Jeffrey Hermes’ practice ranges from advising media and corporate clients on content liability issues, to rapid-response intervention in high-profile litigation on behalf of various publishing and media clients, to complex corporate and intellectual property litigation. He has extensive experience in representing print, broadcast and Internet media clients in First Amendment and access-related matters in state and federal court, including successfully unsealing impounded government records, representing reporters being pressured to disclose their confidential sources and defending against defamation suits. Mr. Hermes has argued successfully before the trial court, Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has also written and spoken frequently on the subject of podcasting publication and the law.

Topic: Ambush Journalism. In this episode, I interview Jeffrey Hermes, a partner with Brown Rudnick, to discuss questions about “ambush journalism” and issues that video bloggers and new media producers should consider when going for that hard to get interview. Jeffrey defines ambush journalism, addresses questions of ethics, and offers many helpful guidelines for new media producers.

Credits: Josh Pike, Audio editor. Music for this episode is licensed from Magnatune. (Artist: Burnshee Thornside; Album: The Art Of Not Blending In; Song: Can I Be A Star.) Special thanks to Creative Commons and Alex Roberts for the logo design, and to Bill Streeter for getting this site designed and rolling for us. Special thanks to Paul Figgiani for bridging and recording the interview in this episode.

Feedback: We would very much like to hear from you and get your feedback on this new podcast series. Things you like, don’t like, or questions you have that you’d like answered in a future episode are welcome. Please send us your feedback and questions by emailing us at colette [at] rulesfortherevolution [dot] com.>

Hi everyone – thanks for your comments recently. I wanted to let you know that I’ve got two episodes in production that will be released very soon. I’ve more or less given up having a “regular schedule” but will produce new episodes as we identify good issues and find the right guests to discuss them.

So, the next episode we will be releasing will be (#21) on Ambush Journalism and after that we have a copyright-related episode (#22) on the TEACH Act. Please stay tuned and thanks as always for listening and for your continued comments and feedback.

Alex is Public Knowledge’s Director of Policy and New Media. Before his position with PK, Alex developed an interest in public policy early in college. He interned for United States Senate Senator Mike DeWine — making DeWine the second U.S. Senator on the Internet by one day. He was asked to return in subsequent years and in addition to creating websites for both Senator DeWine and Senator George V. Voinovich, he also worked on legislative issues. While in law school, Alex clerked for the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, working on issues such as Broadband, Digital Online Music, and Open Access. Alex graduated from Wake Forest University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He later earned his Juris Doctorate in 2001 from the University of Akron School of Law, where he focused on intellectual property.

Topic: In this extended episode, Colette discusses the issue of “network neutrality” with Alex Curtis, of Public Knowledge, a Washington-based advocacy group. We address many issues of the net neutrality debate, including the meaning and importance of network neutrality, how it is both a consumer and a business issue, the history of telephone and cable regulations that helps explain why we’re in this situation today, principles that underscore the goals of network neutrality, the positions of advocates on the other side of the debate, and steps you can take to voice your opinions.

Credits: Josh Pike, Producer. Music for this episode is licensed from Magnatune. (Artist: Burnshee Thornside; Album: The Art Of Not Blending In; Song: Can I Be A Star.) Special thanks to Creative Commons and Alex Roberts for the logo design, and to Bill Streeter for getting this site designed and rolling for us.

Feedback: We would very much like to hear from you and get your feedback on this new podcast series. Things you like, don’t like, or questions you have that you’d like answered in a future episode are welcome. Please send us your feedback and questions by emailing us at colette [at] rulesfortherevolution [dot] com.

The program was packed with information, starting off with Greg Cangiolosi who discussed corporate podcasting case studies. Dan Klass spoke on decisions to downloads. Craig Syverson, the gruntmedia guru (and also co-host of my favorite Valley business podcast, venturecast), did his magic with lessons in video production. Tim Street (of French Maid TV fame) kept us awake after lunch with lots of videos… bottom line: spectacle, story, and 2+ emotions. After that, it was Hayden Black teaching about getting from the web to the TV, Paul Colligan on reaching the largest possible audience, and Chris Brogan (who we’ve annointed the “community development whiz kid”) on building digital relationships. Whew.